People's Democracy

Bhooka Bharat Tarap Raha Hai'

AIDWA Demo In Front of UP Assembly

Hundreds of women demonstrated outside the UP assembly in Lucknow recently condemning the government’s policy of denying lakhs of poor in the state the benefits of cheap ration by not treating them as below poverty line (BPL) and forcing them to starve.

Drawn from various districts of the state like Mirzapur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Sultanpur, Saharanpur, Kannauj, Agra, Bijnor and Unnao, the protestors under the banner of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) were chanting slogans "Bhooka Bharat Tarap Raha Hai, Atal ka India Chamak Raha Hai"; "Bharat ki Chamak Jhuthi Hai, Jab tak Janata Bhuki Hai"; Bol Bahano Halla Bol, Godamon par Halla Bol".

The demonstration was part of the ongoing AIDWA movement, launched two years ago, on the issue of "hunger." In a memorandum submitted to the state food minister, Ashok Bajpayee, after the demonstration, AIDWA said deteriorating economic conditions and unemployment had pushed lakhs of people below the poverty line during the last few years. However, due to the government’s policy of not treating them as "poor", they were starving as they were not entitled to ration under the BPL scheme.

Demanding reduction in the prices of the ration under the Antodaya as well as the BPL schemes as also the increase in the quota, the memorandum said since new ration cards are being issued from April 1, all poor should be issued these cards. It pointed out that AIDWA's surveys in various districts had revealed that lakhs of families which have been reduced to penury due to closure of industries and absence of employment have been left out of these schemes. Citing the example of Lucknow itself, AIDWA said a survey of 13 clusters of poor showed that out of 832 families, 284 extremely poor families did not have ration cards.

The demonstrators were led by AIDWA president, Subhasini Ali, state unit president, Madhu Garg, and state unit general secretary, Jarina Khurshid. Though the minister did not make any specific promises, he, however, asked the AIDWA district committees in the state to submit lists of poor families to district magistrates .